Ambridge Water Authority Customers Under Boil Water Advisory
By: Bryant Reed and Royce Jones/KDKA-TV
AMBRIDGE, Pa. (KDKA) - Thousands of customers with the Ambridge Water Authority spent most of their day with no running water.
KDKA's Roye Jones spoke with the water authority's general manager Thursday evening, who said most customers should start seeing running water again. Around 5 a.m., there was a break inside the treatment plant and crews were unable to stop water from flowing back into it. The break knocked out service for 8,000 customers.
The water authority hired a company to come in and build two valves to isolate the plant and pump water out. They found two of their man pumps had been flooded in about 30 feet of water for nearly eight hours, damaging the motors.
"You always hear about other towns doing it, not realizing what it's gonna be like to experience it yourself so. What fun, right?" said resident Michelle Smith
Customers like Gerry Sonsini were forced to scramble as the outage also caused the Ambridge Area School District to close. All students will attend school virtually and all after-school activities are canceled.
"I got a text from the wife this morning and it said there's no school and I said, 'oh God, I gotta go out and get some water.' I do what I do, drive around to different counties, go to the grocery store and see if I can get some water for the family," said Sonsini.
WATCH: KDKA's Bryant Reed reports
Sonsini's search for water was a little easier since the fire department quickly set up a water buffalo and also handed out water by the boxes.
"This is my first time experiencing this so it's a little tough," said resident Nicole Dawson. "We woke up at 5 to get a shower and there's no water, so we had to make some adjustments to get a shower and we found a place, got to work on time."
Sonsini and Dawson said they called the water authority and were told there was no ETA for when the break could be fixed.
Now with the flooding under control, the water authority has since been able to get water flowing to customers from a reserve tank in Ambridge and two more in Economy. With the water coming back on, all 8,000 customers are under a boil water advisory and are being told to conserve water while the authority works to get everything running as normal.
The water station at the fire department closes at 7 p.m. and reopens Friday at 8 a.m.
